Bring the water to a boil, add the salt and slowly pour in the cornmeal while whisking. Lower the heat to low and continue whisking for a couple of minutes or until the cornmeal has thickened. Cover the pot and simmer over low for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Lightly grease a medium-sized square or rectangular baking dish (mine measured 20 cm x 15 cm). Mix the minced garlic into the polenta and pour it into the dish. Refrigerate for an hour or until solidified.

Meanwhile prepare the mushroom stew. Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic, salt, rosemary and oregano. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the wine and vinegar and simmer for a minute to boil off the alcohol. Finally, add the tomato paste and stock. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Feel free to simmer for a bit with the lid off if you want a thicker stew (optional).

Boil the rice and cook the Brussels sprouts and spinach to your liking. I steamed them.

Once the polenta is solid, cut it into squares then cut each square into triangles. Because of the size of my baking dish, my triangles were about 2 cm thick. I prefer my fried polenta quite thin so I cut each triangle in two to get a 1 cm thickness. I ended up with 24 triangles. You can cut them as thick or thin as you like depending on how big they come out of your dish.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the polenta triangles and fry, flipping gently halfway through, for a couple of minutes on each side until golden brown. Add more oil to the pan as necessary.

To assemble the bowls pile rice on one side and the green on the other. Arrange the fried polenta down the middle and top with the mushroom stew. Serve immediately.